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Num,"t lOon your Feedback c.rd
,
73 Review
by Larry R. Antonuk WB9RRT
Portasol Butane
Ge-Thorsen
1801 Morgan Street
Rockford Il61102
(815)968-9661
Price Class: $50
Soldering Pencil
An easy-to-use version ofa much-abused tool.
T
he
most abused 1001 in every technician's
toolbox has certainly got 10be the soldering
iron. Normally crammed in the bottom
drawer, sporting a frayed cord and a worn-out
tip, the Iowty soldering iron also lakes a great
amount 01 verbal abuse. It takes too long to
heat up. The tip is 100 large/smaI1letc . Not
enough wattage. Always rolls off the table.
The list goes on and on.
It's no surprise , then, that most hobbyists
(and some professionals) show a definite lack
01 interest when buying a new soldering pencil.
Most irons are bought without much careful
shOpping or consideration, and the users
tend to pay the price in frustration. It's not
uncommon to seesomeone using a $2.99 iron
on a $2500 ham rig, and then wondering why
thosecheap PC board traces keep peeling up.
New on the market lor 1989 is a product
destined to change all of that-a butane version
01 our old friend . The Portasol butane
soldering pencil system is efficient, powerful,
versatne. and even fun to use. The Portasol is
about the size of a cigar tube, and comes with
a pocket clip on the cap. The cap pulls off, and
contains a flint-type striker lor lighting the unit.
The deluxe version includes a plastic carrying
case and an assortment of tips. In addition to
one large and one small tip, the kit comes with
a torch tip and a heat-shrink tubing tip. The
torch, althOugh small, is useful lor healing and
bending small diameter rod, and works quite
well lor soldering connectors on Heuax" cable
. The heat-shrink tip is a flameless device
that works wonders on tubing (the heat gun
could become a thing 01 the past). A tip-cleaning
sponge and an iron hOlder (that " third
hand") round out the kit.
Soldering with Gas
The first thing that you'll notice after you
" fire up" the iron is that its novelty makes
using this tool enjoyable, even fun . The advantages
of soldering with gas-not having to
wait long belore soldering, not needing to find
an outlet, or get tangled in the cord-all make
this a very friendly toot.
Once lit with the built-in igniter,the PortaSOl
comes up to SOlder-melting temperature in
about thirty seconds. The valve on the base of
the unit acts as a heat control, and a sliding
button on the side of the unit acts as an on-off
control. Once the tip is up to heat, the iron can
be set to a lower " idling" temperature. At this
selting, you can expect about two fours of
bum time. The tank is contained in Ihe handle
of the unit, and can be refilled with the type of
canister sold at most drugstores (used lor refilling
cigaret1e lighters). These canisters were
available in my area lor about two dollars, and
I estimate that yo u can get te n to fifteen
charges per canister.
The small l ip works well on PC board repair,
but how hot does the big lip get? The only
answer to that lies in tbe answer to the first
question out of every radio man's mouth,
" Yeah, but does it solder Pl-259s??" II sure
does, and has enough capacity 10 do the job
well . It fell short only one occasion, which happened
to be outdoors on a windy New Hampshire
winler day. rNe needed a good excuse
to come inside, anyway.)
The Portasol Butane soldering system
comes as a kit for $50, or as a one-lip iron for
$30. Considering that most professional
bench irons start et fifty dollars, the Portasol is
quite a bargain. As a mailer of fact. if you do
only intermittent bench soldering, the Portasol
could easily replace a bench iron.
The Porta SOl is bout in Ireland and is dislributed
in the US by Ge-Trorsen. The basic
unit, less spare l ips and carrying case, is also
available from Radio Shack.III
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36 73AmateurRadio . J une, 1989
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